Conventional sputter sources utilized in depositing magnetic materials typically include a target fabricated from the magnetic material to be deposited. However, the inventors have observed that such magnetic materials may create a path of least resistance for magnetic fields produced by other magnetic components of the process chamber (e.g., magnets used to maintain a plasma), thereby affecting magnetic fields formed within the process chamber and creating non-uniformities within a plasma formed within the process chamber. To offset this, the thickness of the target may be reduced to minimize the effect on the magnetic field. However, the inventors have observed that because the target is consumed during sputtering, the reduced thickness of the target leads to a shortened target life.
Thus, the inventors have provided an improved sputter source for semiconductor process chambers.